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fping 3 – Multi Target ICMP Ping Tool

Last updated: July 29, 2016 | 1,776 views

fping is a program like ping which uses the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) echo request to determine if a target host is responding.

fping differs from ping in that you can specify any number of targets on the command line, or specify a file containing the lists of targets to ping. Instead of sending to one target until it times out or replies, fping will send out a ping packet and move on to the next target in a round-robin fashion. In the default mode, if a target replies, it is noted and removed from the list of targets to check; if a target does not respond within a certain time limit and/or retry limit it is designated as unreachable.

fping also supports sending a specified number of pings to a target, or looping indefinitely (as in ping). Unlike ping, fping is meant to be used in scripts, so its output is designed to be easy to parse.

The binary named fping6 is the same as fping, except that it uses IPv6 addresses instead of IPv4.

−BnInthe defaultmode,fping sends several requests toatarget before giving up,waiting longer forareply on eachsuccessive request.Thisparameter isthe value by which the wait time ismultiplied on eachsuccessive request;it must be entered asafloating-point number(x.y).The defaultis1.5.

−cnNumber of request packets tosend toeachtarget.Inthismode,aline isdisplayed foreachreceived response(thiscan suppressed with−qor−Q).Also,statistics about responses foreachtarget are displayed when all requests have been sent(orwhen interrupted).